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EAA Offers Collegiate Volunteer Program

By Nicole Kiefert

As well as the benefits, there are many events available for students in the Collegiate Volunteer Program to attend.
Monday, July 20, offers students the College Tailgate from 5:00 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at Aviation Gateway Park before the Dierks Bentley concert.Tuesday, July 21, gives students the opportunity to get a tour of the Airbus A350. The tour is from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Boeing Plaza. Wednesday, July 22, EAA is hosting a job fair for students to connect with aviation companies. Interested students should bring rèsumès to Aviation Gateway Park from 12 to 3 p.m. Wednesday also offers a Redbird simulator from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Thursday, July 23, students can head to the Warbirds area for a drawing for a ride in a Ford Tri-Motor. Students can put in their name at 8 a.m. There will be 18 winners.

July 19, 2015 - EAA is offering a Collegiate Volunteer Program during EAA AirVenture 2015. The program has brought in 127 volunteers from seven different colleges throughout the United States, including University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Fox Valley Technical College, Purdue, Ohio State, University of Central Missouri, North Dakota, and Dubuque University.

The only requirement for eligibility in the program is that the volunteers are college students with an interest in aviation.

Michelle Farr, HR business partner, said the program targets college age students to get young people interested in aviation.

“I think our main goal behind this is to really get that next generation excited here and give them the experience of a lifetime,” Michelle said.

The program is offering students who volunteer 30 hours or more over the week benefits, such as a six-month EAA membership, a weekly wristband, free camping, and a meal and beverage for every day they work.

Michelle said she hopes to use the partnerships with these colleges to expand the program to hopefully offer students college credit.

She said she is “seeing which colleges would be willing to partner with us and what we can do for them to get college credit or if they have a civic volunteer program at their school and how can we help match? So right now it’s kind of exploring, but we would love to be able to do that.”

Michelle said the experience is great for the students, and she is certain once they see EAA AirVenture they will return.

“We would love to be able to grow this program, so we’re pretty confident if we can get them here and give them that experience that they’ll keep coming back year after year,” she said. “We’ve gotten them really exciting opportunities that maybe everyday guests might not be able to experience.”